A great falling away!

Have you ever wondered how Jesus feels about those who have never received Him as Lord and Savior and also those who have received Him but have fallen away and are not living according to His Word which is the Holy Bible? I have. How do these groups of people that I described here view Jesus as seeing them? As I was thinking back to the time before I had given my heart to Christ, here is what I remember feeling: 

I felt that He would never want me because of all the horrible things that I had done. 

I felt like I had went "too far."

I felt dirty, and like I wasn't good enough to be received by Him.

I was angry at life & wondered if He even cared about my hurt.

I felt that I was so bad that He was wanting to punish me.

I'm sure that I had many other feelings that I struggled with, however, I found it very difficult to remember just how I had felt back then. You see, I have been a born again Christian for many years, & after experiencing the great forgiveness of Christ, it can be so easy to forget just how a lost or backslidden person feels. I had to really think about the personal struggles that I went through when I was away from God in order to write this. You see, when God forgives us, He chooses to forget our sins, and the bible says that he casts our sins as far as the east is from the west, and throws them into the sea of forgetfulness. Hallelujah! When we get forgiveness of our sins and we grow in Christ, over time we begin to forget about our old sin nature, also. However, in some ways, we need to remember just how we thought & felt in order to accurately love those who are lost with the God kind of love. 

Sometimes, if we Christians are not careful, we can portray Jesus as a very angry God who is just ready to destroy those who are in sin, yet the Scriptures are very clear of just the opposite. Look carefully at these here:

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him." John 3:16-17

Read Ezekiel 18:23-32. It is clear within this Scripture that God takes no pleasure in pronouncing judgment...even on the wicked.

One of the most moving passages of the love of Jesus for the lost is found here in Luke 19: 41-44 where Jesus is entering Jerusalem knowing that this is where the people will reject Him to the point of crucifying Him. As He is entering, He begins to weep over the city, because He knows that the people will reject Him. He weeps over the fact that when He visits them ( in mind, body, and spirit), they won't receive Him. He knows that when they reject Him, they are also rejecting life in eternity with Him. He weeps over them because He loves them, yet they can't see it, and instead of turning to Him, they will turn Him away. He weeps because They choose to remain in their sin, therefore, He has to pronounce judgment upon them. That was not His heart. His heart was that they repent, turn from their sins, and be saved. He wept for the very ones who he knew would later yell, "Crucify Him!"  Let me remind you that many of these people that Jesus was weeping over were not who we would call lost people today, but many of them were in the "church" of that day. They were the ones who did confess God. They were convinced that they were right with God & doing His will while they were living in sin. Yes, it's true that they appeared righteous, but they still rejected Jesus. They confessed God, but didn't truly receive God, His ways, or even recognize Him when they laid their physical eyes on Him. The message of truth was like a burr in their shoes! Christ wept for them because although they confessed God, they did not truly receive nor live for Him, and He knew that they would be destroyed. Because he wept over them, it conveys to us that He did not have any sense of pleasure that they would partake of destruction. 

  Maybe you fall into one of these two groups that I have mentioned here. If so, I'm sad to say that according to the Bible, you are not on the course to Heaven but Hell. This is not God's desire for you, and neither is it mine, but it is truth, and if I really love you like Christ does, I must tell you the truth even though it is not popular. This is why I am taking a good portion of my day to write this blog to you. Have you never yet received Christ as Savior & chosen to live for Him? Have you went through the motions of receiving Christ as Savior and going to church, but you do not live how a true believer should live according to the Bible? Either way, God's desire for you is that you do not perish. 

If you have never experienced turning your life over to Him yet, I challenge you right now with you mouth out loud to recognize to God that you are a sinner (the same as all human beings are). Humbly ask Him to forgive you of those sins & to come into your heart, and be you Lord & Savior. Just begin to pour your heart out to Him...the hidden sins...the worst secrets of your heart...just audibly begin to give them to Him. It is by the grace of God that we are all saved. His Word promises that no matter who you are, He will in no way turn you away when you come to Him in repentance. He promises to have have mercy upon you even though you don't deserve it. He loves you! He is seeking after you now, calling you to Himself. Get yourself into a solid Bible believing Church and be baptized. It is the believer's responsibility to connect with the body of Christ & grow in Him. 

Maybe you are one of those mentioned that proclaim Christ or "God", yet do not live your life as the Bible describes a true believer to live. One of the biggest mistakes that we make in life is having a lack of balance. Grace & works must be balanced in every true believer. The Word challenges that true Christians be balanced. It says that if we love God we keep His commandments, faith without works is dead, and by a person's fruits we shall know them ( If they are true Christians or not). A great love and concern for you will not allow me to tell you that you are "ok" while living contrary to the Word of God. Only someone who would not care about another would do that. James 2:19 tells us something very important that we who "believe" in Christ should heed. "You believe that there is one (God) you do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble!" If the demons believe in Christ , are they going to Heaven? No! When we truly put our trust in Jesus, we live like it.We are saved through grace alone, however, we should never use grace as an avenue to practice a lifestyle of sin because a true believer should believe to the point of living what they say they believe. If you find yourself in this group, Mal. 3:7 says, "Return to me and I will return to you." Jesus is not waiting to pronounce everlasting judgment upon you, but just as He wept when He was entering Jerusalem, I believe that He is weeping for you now. He knows those who will not return to Him in a true relationship, and he is saddened by that. It does not bring Him pleasure at all when a person chooses destruction over repentance. He loves you! Will you ask His forgiveness today, and begin to rid yourself of those sins that separate you from Him? That is my prayer & desire for you today.

Remember, dear Ones, who read this blog that 2 Thess. chapter 2 tells us that when the day of Christ is at hand (very near) for His return to take those that are His out of this world, there shall come a great falling away first. It warns us not to be deceived! What is this falling away that is spoken of here? It is evident that this is revealing that there will be many believers of Jesus Christ who will backslide in their relationship with Him. They will exchange what they once knew as truth because they believe the deceptive lies of the devil, and they will no longer live according to that truth but rather their own fleshly desires. They may confess Jesus as Lord, but will not do His works. Matt. 7:23 clearly says that not everyone who says unto Him Lord, Lord, shall enter Heaven, and it even says that many who call Him Lord will remind Him of all the things they have done to serve Him, yet He will say to them, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Which are those who practice a lifestyle of sin.) A relationship with Jesus coupled with works prove that we are His. Last but not least, Prov. 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way to death." The devil will do his very best to deceive us into thinking that a lifestyle contrary to the Word of God is alright in order to rob us of eternity in Heaven. It is imperative that we guard our hearts & know that we have a real relationship with Jesus Christ, and one that produces right living. If our relationship with Him is right, we will do what His Word says and live according to it. We will not have the desire to live a life of practicing sin. God's Word plainly tells us that if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. Let's not overlook our sin and mistakenly believe that we are ok, but rather judge ourselves by God's Word and live an eternity with Jesus Christ.